While drupa’s public opening was on Tuesday, for your erstwhile media correspondents, the press conferences start a day before. My initial observation of ‘drupa city’ is that there is a muted visual presence. Maybe it’s the rain and gray skies maybe it’s 25 hours on planes and in airport lounges but the vibrant red-plastered streets of Dusseldorf whenever a drupa takes place are just not there in the way they once were.
Flags used to emblazon every telegraph pole, trams were decked out in red and white; it was drupa, drupa everywhere. There are a few posters and billboards around but even in the fairground; it’s a bit muted. The famous glass mobile footwalk tunnel that connects the north halls to the south; once the sole domain for manroland ‘we are print’ banners from start to finish, is just a tunnel now, with a few banners advertising ‘Print of Persia’ – a graphic arts supplier in Iran. A few Ryobi banners later on complete the décor.
Hopefully, the budgets have all been allocated to the Halls where huge stands from all of the digital suppliers now outnumber offset, flexo, screen and gravure.
As I say, maybe it’s the rain but the town is not looking like the brilliant circus it once was every 4 years. That said, the organisation is fantastic and all public transport is both free and frequent for drupa pass holders. I could be made to look a liar come tomorrow when the show opens in earnest and the Altstadt buzzes at night.
A glimpse of what will happen was courtesy of Heidelberg who held their press event yesterday afternoon. And what a show it was. Robotic LCD screens, giant panorama backdrop and the world premiere of the PrimeFire 106 B1 digital press developed with Fujifilm. Not available until well into 2017 and take-away print samples verboten; it nevertheless is impressive but simplex only, it’s aimed at packaging. Also, Heidelberg director Stephan Plenz was adamant the click-charge model would not apply to PrimeFire. I was left wondering if Heidelberg had learned the lesson of selling digital without clicks from their NexPress days but, to its credit, clicks are available with the Ricoh-rebadged VersaFire A3 machines, OmniFire web and LabelFire Gallus devices. Note: printers don’t like investing big money on their balance sheets in high-end digital. The proven model is to take a slice of monthly volumes and provide service and consumables.
Demonstrations of printing 3 different jobs in 8 minutes were presented on the Speedmaster XL106 with plates changing on all 8 units each time. Very impressive and notably quiet! The greatly reduced makeready time is largely due to the Hycolor Multidrive inking and dampening which operates independently from the main drives. Operators Ray and Jens made it look easy. Heidelberg calls their new smart printing philosophy ‘Push to stop.’ Print jobs flow through the system – offset and digital – so seamlessly that you have to push to stop production, not to start it. Intelligent systems take the strain off the operator even when multiple job changes are called for.
Full marks to Heidelberg for their Hall 1 exhibit – it is just fantastic and certainly to be packed out from tomorrow. CEO Gerold Linzbach said: “We’ve set the course for growth and sustainable profitability and are expecting the trade show to take us further along this path.”
Also of note was Heidelberg’s cloud-based servicing, shopping and admin system. Predictive monitoring will warn both printer and technician when a part needs to be replaced and consumables ordering is also likewise managed in the cloud. Printing is getting more like the HAL computer in 2001 Space Odyssey every day: “Dave, you are about to run out of B2 plates but it’s okay, I ordered more for you.”
By the way, Heidelberg now has over 1000 VersaFire (formerly Linoprint) digital machines in the market.
Kodak exiting inkjet in favour of toner
The other Monday press conference was Kodak. That it is selling off its inkjet properties; Prosper, Stream etc is no secret and CEO Jeffrey Clarke said there has been much interest and he expects due diligence to commence soon, with a sale announced by end of 2016.Meantime, R&D continues afoot on inkjet but once sold off, Kodak will have only Toner digital (NexPress), CtP and plates, Flexo plates and chemistry, plus software. There is also a venture into 3D printing in association with Carbon3D.
On the economic front, Kodak claims USD$1.8 billion in revenues and $500 million cash-on-hand, and according to Clarke is “Totally committed to print in the long-term.”
Flexo for packaging looks very strong for Kodak with its NX and new Ultra NX photopolymer systems. Screen rulings of 250lpi and, soon, 300 lpi with hybrid stochastic/halftone mean that gravure quality can now be superseded. Environmental aspects are also addressed with water washouts. Certainly, the samples handed around are superb.
If it can get a good price for its inkjet technologies, things are looking up for the Rochester imaging once giant. It’s been a tough road but they still have great products in the portfolio.
So, even before drupa has officially opened its doors, these two previews indicate a vibrant and exciting show once inside the Halls.
I am confident the Halls will look fantastic tomorrow – drupa has a habit of surprising.
As I saunter off into the soft May rain, there is redness in the sky on the horizon and the clouds are breaking. Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow after all.